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- Main Article
- Timeline
- Selected pieces about WOSU
- Higgy and Tyler awards
 THE BIRTH OF WOSU
In March 1920, the first radio license was issued to The Ohio State University to start an experimental station called Radio Telephone 8XJ (also referred to 8XL). By the next month, its first program was broadcast with a whopping(!) 1.8 watts. In April 1922, the call letters WEAO (Willing, Energetic, Athletic Ohio) were assigned to the station, and its power was raised to 100 watts, making it the first radio station in Columbus and one of the oldest earliest education radio stations in America.
University President William Oxley Thompson commented in his inaugural address: “We are starting tonight the first of a series of programs of entertainment and instruction for the citizens of Central Ohio. These programs will be of the highest type, including music, science, and other subjects of popular interest. Happily, Columbus’ first radio program is being broadcasted from Ohio State University.”
In September 1924, WEAO began regular play-by-play coverage of football games at Ohio Stadium:
 Sport broadcasts occupy a favorable spot on the WEAO program. For the past five years football games have been put "on the air" and for the past three years WEAO has broadcast all Ohio State grid tilts both at home and abroad. It has been key station in a number of hookups. Basket ball also has its place, with the station giving its ether-audience play-by-play descriptions of all at-home games. Incidentally it is one of the few stations in the country radiocasting basket ball. (The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MONTHLY, MARCH, 1931)
In 1928, WEAO partnered with WKRC (WLW) in Cincinnati to produce “Ohio School of the Air,” which was sent via telephone lines to Cincinnati and rebroadcast through WLW radio. As WEAO continued its broadcasts, a financial report completed in 1932 indicated that the operating cost for one year was $17,531 ($289,894.92 in 2012 dollars).
 On Sept.1, 1933, the FRC granted the call-letter change from WEAO to WOSU-AM. In the fall of 1934, the Ohio Emergency Radio Junior College began broadcasting courses for students unable to live on the Ohio State campus during the Depression. This approach was a resounding success, with more than 1,000 students enrolling for the first quarter.
Ten commercial stations rebroadcast many of WOSU-AM’s programs from 1935-1936. The radio station’s development and willingness to experiment were evident in the services it offered to the local community, including The Radio Junior College, agricultural programming, drama and music presentations, School of the Air broadcasts, athletic broadcasts, and the development of a radio workshop.
The tower and transmitter for the station were moved to the Ohio State University Golf Courses in 1938. As the station’s reputation and growth continued, Youngstown’s WKBN paid for WOSU-AM to move its frequency from 570 to 820 kilocycles in March 1941. During World War II, WOSU radio played an important role in relaying military information to the Central Ohio community. 15 percent of the station’s broadcast hours were devoted to war-related stories and issues.
 WOSU FM Premiers
In 1946, Ohio State University President Howard Beavis recommended to the Board of Trustees that the school should proceed with an application for an FM station, at a cost of $42,000. The application was accepted by the FCC in 1948, and WOSU-FM went on the air for the first time Dec. 13, 1949. A program bulletin from 1949 for the radio stations contained a brief statement of station policy, including the following information:
“The Ohio State University operates WOSU primarily as an extension of University facilities to the people of Ohio. The great resources of the University on the campus are extended into your homes through WOSU. It is our policy to present education and information as well as other usual broadcast services in as attractive a manner as possible. Discussions of public questions in an unbiased, complete manner are regularly scheduled, as well as news and events of importance occurring at the University. We feel that it is the duty of WOSU to bring to the listening public as much of the campus and University activities as it is possible to do by radio. We use many programs of good music to surround the educational activity in an attractive manner.”
During the 1940s, Alfred Vivian, Dean of the Ohio State Agriculture Department, brought his personal collection of 78-rpm records to WOSU and hosted weekly programs, including "Treasured Music," a longtime Sunday-morning favorite. Until this time, all music broadcasting was live in the studio, in classrooms, in concert halls, or from the networks.
 Several popular on-air personalities came to WOSU during the 1950s. In 1955, Gene Gerrard, who had joined the staff three years earlier, became host of "In the Bookstall", one of the station’s most popular programs. Fred Calland, who later became cultural-programming editor and host at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., became the WOSU-AM/FM music director.
WOSU TV Signs On
Both the WOSU radio stations and the television station were founded on lofty principles. In his opening remarks for the initial WOSU-TV broadcast February 20, 1956, Ohio State University Vice President Frederic Heimberger predicted:
“This is a very significant day in the history of The Ohio State University. The beginning may be small and may attract little public attention. But from this seed which is planted here today there will surely come growth and productivity beyond our dreams and beyond our ability to foretell today. (The University’s) goal is to make the most of educational television and radio as a means for extending to the people of Ohio the best that can be offered – and in the most effective ways.”
And consider these words, from an editorial in the WOSU Program Bulletin, published in 1945: “Only by putting to worthy use the communication developments science has produced can a university hope to give leadership to a great people.”
 These sentiments are in contrast to WOSU TV’s humble beginnings, in a modest building off of North Star Road; the antenna stood in a farm field. Its 10-kilowatt signal could be received only within a 42-mile radius of the station, and then only if households had installed UHF converters in their sets. Televisions in central Ohio were chiefly programmed to receive VHF networks, because all of the commercial stations in Columbus were on the VHF band. At the time of sign-on, perhaps 3,000 homes in WOSU’s viewing area were equipped with UHF antennas.
WOSU originally requested VHF channel 12. A resubmitted permit to the FCC was finally approved in November 1951, but at UHF channel 34, not VHF 12. The first broadcast included the pre-filmed speech by Heimberger, a performance by the OSU Symphonic Choir, and a station-produced documentary entitled The University Story.
1949: September program bulletin:
“The Ohio State University operates WOSU primarily as an extension of University facilities to the people of Ohio. The great resources of the University on the campus are extended into your homes through WOSU.
“It is our policy to present education and information as well as the other usual broadcast services in as attractive a manner as possible. Discussion of public questions in an unbiased, complete manner are regularly scheduled, as well as news and events of importance occurring at the University."
 Under the guidance of Director of Radio-Television Richard B. Hull, WOSU earned national recognition for educational television. The station received the 1958 George Washington Honor Medal Award for its series entitled “Essentials of Freedom.” It was during this year as well the TV station’s first remote production van was outfitted to cover broadcasts on location.
Most of the programming on WOSU-TV was strictly educational in nature, focused on extending Ohio State into the community with formal educational courses. At first, Ohio State professors were reluctant to use television in their classrooms, allowing only one freshman mathematics class to use an open-circuit system, in 1958. By 1962, however, demand had increased to the point that the university installed a multi-channel, closed-circuit system.
 The 1960 – 1980s: A Time For Growth
With two radio stations and one television station, WOSU was thriving and continually developing new programming. The radio stations reached a milestone in 1960: Both the AM and FM frequencies adopted a new policy that allowed them to operate on a full-time basis, 365 days a year.
WOSU-FM offered over 100 hours of programming each week (with some duplication from WOSU-AM). The FM station broadcast all forms of serious music – from jazz to chamber music – with commentary, history, and interpretive information. Sources included recordings from an LP library of over 8,000 records and the Dean Vivian Library’s more than 16,000 recordings on 78-rpm discs. The music staff arranged for tape recordings of outstanding artists and concert groups locally and throughout the State of Ohio to build a growing tape library.
In 1964, Dr. William Steis was appointed general manager of WOSU Radio; Mary Hoffman became the new music director in 1966.
On Oct. 1, 1968, WOSU-AM and FM became separate stations that offered different programs throughout the broadcast day. FM devoted most of its programming to music, while AM expanded its schedule of informational and educational programs.
On November 7, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act, giving a boost to WOSU-TV and all educational stations across the country. The legislation was intended to create and fund “a strong and active nationwide alternative to commercial broadcasting.” The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was formed in 1968, and funding was provided for educational stations such as WOSU.
Color television came to WOSU-TV when it broadcast the Ohio State vs. Michigan football game in November 1968. The game in Columbus was uninterrupted and carried as a public-service feature.
The broadcast began a buying frenzy for UHF converters at local electronics stores. Nationally, on the new PBS network, an experiment in children’s television began in 1969, when Sesame Street hit the airwaves.
WOSU-TV played an important role on the OSU campus during the riots and demonstrations of April/May 1970. Closed-circuit discussions between students, faculty, and administrators defused some of the early tensions, but after disruptions flared out of control, OSU President Novice Fawcett used WOSU on May 6, 1970, to announce the closing of the university. TV34 signed off the air later that day, not to return for 13 days.
A Move to the Fawcett Center
 The radio stations relocated to the Fawcett Center for Tomorrow on the campus of The Ohio State University in 1970. WOSU-AM became a charter member of the new National Public Radio and began broadcasting All Things Considered in 1971. WOSU-FM aired five hours of educational programming, 19 hours of informational programming, 10 hours of instructional programming, and 92 hours of cultural programming each week. Karl Haas’ Adventures in Good Music became part of the FM broadcast in October 1971.
In 1972, WOSU-TV joined the radio stations by relocating to the Fawcett Center. The new facility was equipped for color transmission and featured two production studios. In 1973, a new tower in Westerville and transmitter allowed WOSU to reach a radius of 60 miles, serving 24 counties and two million people. Federal public-broadcasting funding cuts prompted the creation of The Friends of WOSU, which focused on support fundraising for the station. In conjunction with the first “Friends-a-Thon” on TV34, the Sesame Street characters came to WOSU to kick off the event. TV’s broadcast community grew in 1974 with the addition of WPBO-TV in Portsmouth.
WOSU-FM began broadcasting in stereo in 1973. In 1975, the station made its sub-carrier available to the Central Ohio Radio Reading Service (CORRS), a nonprofit service broadcast on a sub-carrier of WOSU-FM for blind, visually impaired, and otherwise physically handicapped persons. In 1977, Don Davis, after serving many years as the WOSU news director, became the WOSU-AM/FM station manager.
The Friends of WOSU was officially chartered on October 29, 1973 and its first fundraising effort netted over $5,000. The purpose of the Friends of WOSU is to further the mission of WOSU through activities that support, complement and enhance the efforts of management, staff and the university. In support of this, the Board of Directors of the Friends of WOSU:
• Serve as a link to and from the community-at-large, gathering and sharing information and opinions on area issues, needs and strengths with the community, staff, & management, & board;
• Cultivate sources of funding while promoting memberships, sponsorships and donations through special events and other activities; and
• Support communication of WOSU goals among members of the Friends of WOSU, the larger community, The Ohio State University, and WOSU Public Media.
The late 1970s and early 1980s brought new programming and important developments to the WOSU Stations. WOSU-FM added expanded versions of the Morning Show and Sun-Up Symphony to its on-air repertoire. WOSU-TV was the first television station in Columbus to provide closed-captioning for its hearing-impaired viewers. Technological advances allowed WOSU-AM/FM to receive national programming via satellite, instead of by telephone lines or audio tapes. In 1980, WOSU-FM became “Classical 89.7,” with 19 hours of classical music each day, which separated the station in format programming from News 820 WOSU-AM. FM was now all music, and AM became a news and public-affairs station, and debuted NPR’s Morning Edition.
By the mid-1980s, WOSU-FM expanded its broadcast service to 24 hours a day. Open Line made its debut in March 1982 (with Lynn Neary as host, to be replaced by Fred Andrle).
 General manager Dale Ouzts began a professional exchange program with the Beijing Broadcasting Institute in the People’s Republic of China in 1980. Ouzts and other staff members taught classes as well as hosted Chinese broadcasters during visits to the United States.
In 1984, WOSU-TV held its first Auction34 and won the Best First Auction Award from PBS. Auction34 raised more than $200,000 to help fund station initiatives. But, perhaps most important, WOSU stopped simply covering events and started creating them.
Blacks and the Constitution was honored in 1987 when the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution acquired the award-winning production for its permanent archives. According to Ed Clay, who had become television’s station manager in 1981, “It was the first time we put together a special that wasn’t just coverage of an event.”
 A string of station-produced documentaries and specials soon followed, including The Front Porch President (1988), on Warren G. Harding; Son of Heaven (1990), about the Chinese art exhibition; House of Glass (1992), on Franklin Park Conservatory; the four-part Jazz Voices (1996), about Ohio musicians; the 11-part Voices from the Village (1995), with black leaders talking about minority issues; Echoes Across the Oval (1996), a history of Ohio State; The Man Who Had Everything (1998), a look at the life of Louis Bromfield; The Birth of Ohio Stadium (1999); and Many Happy Returns to Lazarus (2004).
In 1988, WOSU-AM’s 40-year-effort to secure permission from the FCC to expand its broadcast day into night finally succeeded. News 820 was able to broadcast an average of 16 hours a day.
The decade from 1990-2000 marked numerous changes for the AM and FM stations. Sam Eiler was named radio station manager for WOSU-AM/FM in April 1991. WOSU-AM’s broadcast schedule was increased to 24 hours a day, but eventually reduced from 24 hours to 18 hours a day in 1992 due to state and university budget cuts. News 820’s popular program BodyTalk, a health-information call-in program, premiered and aired nationally. Also during the 1990s, readers of the Columbus Guardian twice selected Fred Andrle of Open Line as “Best Radio Talk Show Host.”
In the 1990s, WOSP-FM in Portsmouth, WOSE-FM in Coshocton, WOSB-FM in Marion, and WOSV-Mansfield all partnered with WOSU-FM to form The WOSU Classics Network.
In 1993, DVS (Descriptive Video Service) made select public-television programs on WOSU-TV accessible to people with visual impairments. At the time, WOSU-TV was the only local station to offer DVS service. The station also took steps toward digital technology in 1994 when it acquired five new digital-videotape machines. The station signed on for digital transmission Jan. 22, 2004, and WOSU begin to broadcast all-digitally in 2009.
Digital Transitions
In November 2002, GM Dale Ouzts retired after 23 years and Tom Rieland became the fourth general manager of WOSU. On April 5, 2005, Classical 89.7 WOSU-FM became the first station in central Ohio to broadcast a digital radio signal, officially starting the digital “HD Radio” era in Columbus.
In February, 2003 WOSU-TV went digital and provided the first multi-cast digital signal in the Columbus market (that is, providing more than one channel using digital broadcast technology).
 As part of the digital transition, WOSU had to transition to purchasing digital production equipment including high definition television recording. The impetus to invest in digital equipment and expand its community impact led to an agreement with the COSI Columbus (Center of Science and Industry) in downtown Columbus to share space and build new broadcast studios and outreach space. With initial seed funding from Ohio State University, WOSU@COSI opened in September, 2006, after three years of planning and renovation.
WOSU had success in major gifts to fund the facility, including the largest single gift in history from Battelle ($1.6 million) and other major support from AT&T, Nationwide, Scotts Miracle Gro and AEP, along with a number of individual gifts. The unique nonprofit partnership was lauded across the country and the PBS related NETA Conference was hosted in Columbus to showcase the facility.
WOSU@COSI houses a state-of-the-art digital media center, and has been designed as community space; a local gathering place for civic engagement, forums, performances, events, and meetings; an interactive exhibit area; and television and radio studios. The media center occupies approximately 12,000 square feet of space in COSI's former Gallery 1.
In an effort to expand its news and public affairs audience, on January 14, 2008, WOSU-FM switched to a mixed news/classical format, introducing NPR news magazines during morning and evening drive-times along with several popular NPR weekend programs such as Weekend Edition, Car Talk, and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, plus This American Life from Public Radio International. Many of these programs were simulcast with its AM sister station WOSU-AM.
 In December 2010, WOSU purchased commercial station WWCD. That station was given new call letters - WOSA - and switched to a full-time non-commercial classical music station. WOSU-FM switched to a full-time NPR news/talk format, simulcasting with WOSU-AM. WOSU also converted four of its repeater stations: WOSB in Marion, WOSE in Coshocton, WOSP in Portsmouth and WOSV in Mansfield to all classical music services. This established all day public radio news and public affairs and all day classical on two FM stations in central Ohio for the first time.
“Columbus Neighborhoods: Short North” debuted in March 2010, the first part a documentary series. “This project is the largest in WOSU’s history and we’ve been gratified by the community response and support,” said WOSU Public Media General Manager Tom Rieland. “We believe Columbus Neighborhoods, running through 2012 and beyond, helps us understand who we are, so we can understand where we’re going as a community.”
 Television staff regularly produces Columbus on the Record, In The Know, and ArtZine, and continues to document local treasures such as the Ohio State University marching Band (“Pride of the Buckeyes”) and the now-closed Lazarus department store “”Many Happy Returns to Lazarus”).
The radio side remains busy, earning #1 radio news operation in 2010 and 2011, while the classical folks produce the Amadeus Deli, Saturday on Stage, Saturday with the Pops, Serenata, Symphony at Seven, and live broadcasts of Columbus Symphony, Columbus Jazz Orchestra (including the first broadcast from the newly renovated Lincoln Theatre using robotic cameras), ProMusica Chamber orchestra, etc.
On December 15, 2011, WOSU concluded a transaction to sell the 820 AM frequency, which served the University and community well for over 89 years.
TIMELINE:
1920: 8XJ, an experimental station, signs on under the license of Ohio State. Professor C. A. Wright of the Department of Electrical Engineering, was the first director of the station.
1924 (April): WEAO signs on, the first radio station in Columbus.
1927: Robert C. Higgy, who had received a degree in Communications Engineering and had been serving for a period of three years as radio engineer, takes over direction of the station.
 1930: The first Institute of Radio Education was held at OSU. Here for the first time in the history of American education, the leaders in educational broadcasting spent ten days in discussing the problems of education by radio.
1931: WEAO becomes WOSU.
1938: The tower and transmitter for the station are moved to the Ohio State University Golf Courses.
1941: WOSU changes its frequency from 570 to 820.
1943: Dr. I. Keith Tyler, member of the Ohio State faculty since 1935, is been named acting director of radio education for the university
1949: WOSU-FM signs on.
1949: An appraisal finds that within the primary listening area of WOSU, two out of every three elementary class rooms listened to one or more of the school’s programs each week.
1956: WOSU-TV signs on.
1957: WOSU-AM and FM originated the first live “stereophonic” music program in this area.
1959: WOSU-TV is awarded a grant from the Ford Foundation to buy Ohio’s first videotape recorder, which allowed the station to record programs with better clarity and sound.
1960: AM and FM begin to operate 365 days a year.
1964: Dr. William B. Steis is appointed General Manager of WOSU Radio, AM and FM.
1968: WOSU-TV’s first color broadcast was the Ohio State vs. Michigan football game.
1970: WOSU-AM and FM moves to the Fawcett center. AM becomes News 820.
1970: During the campus riots at Ohio State, one WOSU reporter hit on the head by a tear gas container and knocked out. A student reporter and Don Davis were overcome by tear gas. The stations were forced off the air when the University closed for a few days.
1972: WOSU-TV moves to the Fawcett Center.
1972: The Friends of WOSU Board is formed.
1973: WOSU-FM begins broadcasting in stereo.
1973: A new TV tower is built in Westerville.
1973: The Friends of WOSU was officially chartered on October 29, 1973, and its first fundraising effort netted over $5,000.
1974: WPBO-TV in Portsmouth signs on.
Mid 1970s: WOSU-AM airs the first broadcast of live sessions of the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate, when the Equal Rights Amendment was trying to be passed.
1977: Don Davis, after serving many years as the WOSU news director, becomes the WOSU-AM/FM station manager. Davis joined WOSU in September 1956, and retired in 1989. He started as an actor who auditioned for an announcer’s position. He was assistant program director, news director, and station manager, and oversaw the move from educational broadcasting to public broadcasting in 1967.
1978, January. A blizzard shuts down most of the Midwest. WOSU’s Howard Ornstein barely makes it in to the station, has had to feel his way on the outside of the building to find the door. There is no power, so the crew uses a portable board and has to use engineers as announcers, reading news by candlelight. Bill Cohen lives in the State House for a week so that he can run the equipment that gets the Governor’s news conferences on the air.
1980: WOSU-AM becomes “News 820” and WOSU-FM becomes “Classical 89.7.”
1982: In the Know (originally a live production on WBNS-TV) moves to WOSU.
1989: WOSV-FM in Mansfield signs on.
1993: WOSP-FM in Portsmouth signs on.
1993: DVS (Descriptive Video Service) makes select public-television programs on WOSU-TV accessible to people with visual impairments.
2002: GM Dale Ouzts retires after 23 years and Tom Rieland became general manager of The WOSU Stations.
2003: WOSU-TV goes digital and provides the first multi-cast digital signal.
2004: WOSU-FM becomes the first radio station in central Ohio to broadcast in HD Radio technology. WOSU-TV begins digital broadcasting.
 2006: WOSU opens its digital media center at COSI.
2005: Classical 89.7 WOSU-FM becomes the first station in central Ohio to broadcast a digital radio signal.
2008: New radio studios open at Fawcett center for AM and FM.
2009: WOSU is designated as a regional help center by the FCC to field questions about the transition to digital television. WOSU-TV begins broadcasting in digital in March, and begins multicasting WOSU Ohio and WOSU Plus. WOSU -TV shuts off its analog signal in July, becoming all digital.
2009: “All Sides with Ann Fisher” debuts, taking over the spot in the day where Fred Andrle’s “Open Line” aired for two decades.
2010: Around-the-clock classical programming begins at 101.1 FM (formerly WWCD).
2010: “Columbus Neighborhoods: Short North” debuts.
2011: WOSU offers the first all-day FM service in central Ohio with National Public Radio and local news; WOSU (89.7 FM) makes the switch to 89.7 NPR News.
2011: WOSU sells the 820 AM frequency, which served the University and community well for over 89 years.
PROMISING SHOW ON WOSU MUST AVOID MEDIUM'S PITFALLS
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Author: Tim Feran
Stories about central Ohio arts and artists have been a hit-and-miss proposition on television through the years.
But that might change, thanks to a collaboration between WOSU-TV (Channel 34) and the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
ArtZine , a new monthly magazine on public television, tries to fill the gap with a potpourri of features examining central Ohio arts organizations, activities and artists.
The first episode, airing tonight, offers five pieces of varying length. Taken as a whole, they prove that the arts can make for interesting television -- but communicating those stories is trickier than it might seem.
Tonight's program includes an examination of an exhibition at the King Arts Complex, a look at the restoration of the recently installed Emerson Burkhart mural at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and a poetry reading by David Citino.
WOSU producers Cindy Gaillard and Forest Godsey have been shooting and editing material for the series for nearly six months, and their efforts show, particularly in two features.
Quiz-show creator loved knowledge
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Author: Nancy Gilson
The creator of In the Know, the central Ohio high-school quiz show, is being remembered as a man with a passion for learning and for encouraging young people to learn.
Carl Papai of Upper Arlington died Saturday at age 85 after having suffered a stroke several weeks ago.
"He was one of those guys who knew a lot about a lot," said Bill Schiffman, moderator of In the Know. "He had a very facile and fertile mind, and, even as he got into his 80s, he was exploring stuff."
Short North to go first in neighborhood series
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Author: Tim Feran
As recently as 1980, the Short North was known as just "the near North Side."
Cabdrivers and police dispatchers, however, were already referring to the area along High Street just north of Downtown as the Short North.
And, in 1981, John Allen named his pub the Short North Tavern.
The neighborhood - the former site of a Civil War military reunion, a major train station and the home of a circus magnate; and a showcase today for art galleries and festivals - is the subject of the first of six WOSU Public Media documentaries.
Columbus Neighborhoods: Short North will be previewed Wednesday as part of an event in the Short North and make its broadcast debut Monday on WOSU -TV (Channel 34).
"It's the largest local project we've ever done," said Tom Rieland, general manager of WOSU Public Media.
In addition to the documentaries, the project will include town-hall forums, a Web site, community storytelling events and educational materials for use in classrooms throughout the state.
Other neighborhoods to be explored are German Village, King-Lincoln, Olde Towne East and the University District.
The final segment, a special on Downtown and Franklinton, will air in February 2012 in conjunction with the city bicentennial.
Farewell to a voice of reason on radio
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Thursday, May 28, 2009
Author: JOE BLUNDO
I'm not sure I can do the dishes without Fred Andrle.
He's been part of my routine for years: I listen to the rebroadcast of Open Line, his long-running talk show on WOSU (820 AM), while cleaning up after dinner. Usually, I learn something.
There's one guest I couldn't stand to listen to: me. Andrle has had me on his show now and then through the years. I think I mostly proved why it's a good thing I went into print journalism instead of broadcast.
But that aside, I've always regarded Andrle's show as the antidote to toxic radio: the loud, crude talk shows with hosts who pretend to be perpetually outraged and callers who get about 15 seconds to agree or be shouted down.
If I'm going to spend an hour listening to talk radio, it better teach me more than how to argue by substituting noise for thought.
On Andrle's show, people talk in civilized tones, often about complex issues. The guests can be opinionated, but the host keeps them honest by playing devil's advocate. He is always well-prepared.
Sadly, for my dishwashing routine and civilization in general, this will end Friday when Andrle retires.
WOSU INTERVIEWS NEVER DULL - WARM MEMORIES OF MUSICAL GIANTS
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Sunday, December 12, 1999
Author: Mary Hoffman ; For The Dispatch
Editor's note: Mary Hoffman was music director of WOSU (89.7 FM) from 1966 to '82, then program director until her retirement in 1988. She reminisces about some of the hundreds of personalities she interviewed.
During part of my 22 years at WOSU -FM, particularly in the 1970s, I interviewed a great number of international celebrities. They were the cream of the crop, some already destined for the music history books.
Here are some of the most memorable:
I have to admit that I had a case of nerves before each interview, especially my first one. Backstage at Mershon Auditorium on the Ohio State University campus, I spoke at intermission with a visibly weary Louis Armstrong. The legendary jazz trumpeter, appearing on the Great Artist Series, made this rookie feel welcome during a brief conversation about his childhood as an orphan and the events that set him on his musical path.
I was less anxious about my next interview, also at Mershon. John Browning, recalling a mishap during a previous recital, told of the improperly secured piano that started to slip away as he played. We both had a laugh when I dubbed this "a truly moving performance."
A "moving" interview with Luciano Pavarotti took place in the back seat of a car on the way to a post- recital party in his honor. Pianist John Wustman was at the wheel, with soprano Lorna Haywood beside him -- not an ideal situation for conducting an interview, but sometimes you have to grab the moment.
Pavarotti's career was just taking off.
Maria Callas' was all but over when I captured her on audio tape. I'd been so daunted by the thought of the interview that I actually drove off to the airport without my recorder. Luckily, I was able to borrow one from a friend who was also present. However, straight off the plane, the diva was reluctant. Others greeted her as I handed the equipment back to my friend. Suddenly, Callas came up behind me, saying, "Well, shoot!"
Some interview settings were downright uncomfortable. One unseasonably hot afternoon, following his performance with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra at the Ohio Theatre, renowned French flutist Jean Pierre Rampal closed the only window in his un-air-conditioned dressing room to eliminate obtrusive street noises.
It didn't work. And the heat was stifling. Then Rampal came up with a solution. We spoke behind the closed door of the private, soundproof bathroom.
The most fun interview without a doubt was the one with tenor Richard Tucker and baritone Robert Merrill at the old Sheraton Hotel. The Met stars, who liked a good time almost as much as singing, were in great form that afternoon.
Along with serious observations about their early careers, favorite roles and triumphs, they cracked jokes and took good-natured jabs at one another.
This interview proved to be the most popular with local listeners and as well as with those across the country who heard it on National Public Radio.
My most awesome opportunity came with the Columbus recital of Vladimir Horowitz. How does one generate a conversation with a god? He made it not only easy but delightful. His eyes twinkled, his smile was broad, as he regaled me with accounts of his early love of the piano and his crucial London and American debuts.
As I indulge in memories, I am once again back at a Sunday morning news conference with composer Igor Stravinsky. (He held a scotch in one hand and gave me a pat on the arm with the other.) I am listening to tenor Franco Corelli's confession of being superstitious. I am meeting the vivacious and warm Beverly Sills, her husband, and daughter Muffy, who is deaf, in the Ohio Theatre dressing room before the singer is to go onstage with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra under maestro Evan Whallon.
I remember Maria von Trapp's vigor; the smile I finally elicited from the sometimes droll, sometimes dour composer-critic Virgil Thomson; the friendly hug from Wanda Toscanini Horowitz; the humor generated by comedian Anna Russell, best-known for her hilarious account of Wagner's Ring Cycle, as she sat in her robe on the side of her unmade bed at the Neil House.
Finally, I remember that wonderful human being, cellist Leonard Rose. He was kind enough to let me interrupt his practice session the afternoon of his Mershon series performance.
Sitting alone on the darkened stage, he seemed weary, but he gave whole-heartedly to our half-hour conversation. Imagine my dismay when I realized that the cassette had not been cued at the start. I had captured only the first 10 minutes. I could have cried.
Realizing this, Rose said simply, "Let's do it over again" -- and gave me another 30 minutes of his precious time.
 1. OSU German professor Glenn H. Goodman, longtime host of opera broadcasts on WOSU (1951)
2. WOSU Music Director Mary (Rousculp) Hoffman, left, Friends President William A. McNutt, center, and CSO Conductor Evan Whallon, right (1975).
3. OSU Agriculture Dean Alfred Vivian, the first host of classical music recordings on WOSU (1942).
4. Gene Gerrard, host of WOSU’s “In the Bookstall” for 25 years (1977).
5. OSU German Professor Ilsoadore Edse and WOSU Music Director Fred Calland (1962).
6. Marthellen Jones Cain, WOSU music programmer and studio organist (1953).
7. OSU Music Professor M. Ernett Wilson, heard on WOSU for more than 30 years, and students for the popular “Classroom on the Air.” (1944).
The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MONTHLY, March, 1931:
The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MONTHLY, March, 1935:
WOSU on the Job
THEY'RE NOT ALL HERE
Professor Harold E. Burtt is here shown with only a part of his mammoth psychology class. It numbers more than 500 students. His daily roll call lists students in six states. The course in criminal psychology is conducted as a part of the Junior Radio College.
When you went to college did you become so attached to one professor that you thought you'd like to take him along with you when you graduated? Many alumni hopes are being fulfilled as hundreds of them sit right at home and listen to many of these campus favorites giving their characteristic lectures from WOSU, campus station.
Reason is the Radio Junior College, conducted from the station by the University in cooperation with the Emergency Schools Administration. Celebrating its first birthday in January, the radio college has proceeded to grow by proverbial leaps and bounds until it has commanded the attention of listeners and educators everywhere.
Founded chiefly for the unemployed unable to attend college during the depression, it has attracted hundreds of others. The courses are of college level. The "students" take examinations, and receive credit if they later matriculate in the University. During the winter quarter, in which enrollment was almost doubled, courses in psychology, home economics, advanced French, English, social ethics, engineering, and education were offered.
Most unusual of the courses was that in legal and criminal psychology, presented directly from the classroom by Professor Harold, E. Burtt with 550 enrolled. A lapel microphone enables him to walk about the room, write on the blackboard, open the window, sit on the desk, and otherwise engage in what students like to call "characteristic" actions of a college professor. When he asks a question of a student, he "cracks open" a studio mike standing in front of the class, and if Johnny has some idea of friends who are listening he had best know the answer. Students have proven they can take it, though, and have gone so far as to say they enjoy it immensely.
Most popular of the courses, however is that in English literature, conducted by Professor "Billy" Graves, who has added 600 registered radio students to the thousands he has taught in regular classes. Twice a week he talks about this, that, and everything in the field of literature. Listeners say they wouldn't miss him for anything.
Housewives listen three mornings a week to practical suggestions on everything from recipes to color schemes for the clothing ensemble. That’s “The Business of Homemaking,” formerly known, as “The Homemakers’ Half Hour,” and now a planned radio course.
Seventy of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and even Canada are represented in the enrollment of almost 1500.
Just two weeks ago, WOSU received a letter from the educational director of the Michigan state prison at Jackson asking for a complete radio junior college schedule so that the radio lectures might be transmitted directly to the prison classrooms. Hundreds of letters received from interested listeners and unemployed tell a story of newly-found “purposes in life,” some even identifying the college as “a salvation.”
“I was ready to jump into the river when I heard of the college," says one student in eastern Ohio. "It has given me something to do and something to work for.” Another, however, said, “A mouse was electrocuted in the set and reception since that time hasn't been so good.”
Students in the college range from sixteen-year-olds in the “unemployed” to college graduates with doctor’s degrees, but they all clamor after this newly-found opportunity to attend college by radio, sending their letters of appreciation to the station.
“Feeling its oats,” due to crowded office space, inadequate studios and facilities, the radio junior college and WOSU have outgrown their present situation. Recognizing this, the University has included in the appropriation request an item amounting to $16,000 for rebuilding the studios, a conservative estimate (in keeping with the remainder of the appropriation asked) since, ultimately, the entire station will have to be revamped if progress is to be continued.
Higgy and Tyler awards
WOSU awards two annual prizes to its employees: The I. Keith Tyler award, and The Robert Higgy Award. This award is presented by the WOSU Friends Board for outstanding service by an employee and in recognition of demonstrated excellence and continuing dedication to WOSU Public Media as exemplified by WOSU’s founding leaders Robert C. Higgy and I.Keith Tyler.
The WOSU Higgy/Tyler Staff Award
This award is presented by the WOSU Friends Board for outstanding service by an employee and in recognition of demonstrated excellence and continuing dedication to WOSU Public Media as exemplified by WOSU’s founding leaders Robert C. Higgy and I.Keith Tyler.
 Robert C. Higgy was a broadcast technology pioneer who left a lasting legacy at WOSU through four decades of service starting in 1925. During World War I, as just a teenager, Higgy taught radio for the Armed Forces Aviation School in Columbus on his way to a degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State.
Soon after, he was tapped to become the first full-time director of WEAO-AM, later to become WOSU. He would hold the post of Director and Chief Engineer until 1956, when he retained his engineer position as WOSU television came on the air.
While his accomplishments are many, Higgy is best known for his focus on developing new innovations in technology to improve the quality of the station’s local productions. He broadcast OSU football in the late 1920s with microphones strategically placed throughout the new Ohio Stadium - a first in the country. It was Higgy who put WOSU-FM on the air in 1949 and WOSU-TV on the air in 1956.
Professor Higgy joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering as Instructor in 1927 and retired in 1964 as Associate Professor Emeritus. During this period he taught extensively and continued to play an important role in the development of educational broadcasting in this country. Engineering become a national leader in the field of broadcast engineering.
Higgy loved photography, amateur radio and golf. It was Higgy who began the tradition of classical music at WOSU, programming Sunday afternoons as a time for “live” music from the Columbus orchestra, in which he played the violin.
 I.Keith Tyler was a true academic, with multiple degrees from Nebraska and Columbia University, before starting his career at Ohio State in 1935. His focus on developing the medium of radio as an educational resource led him to create the Institute for Education by Radio at Ohio State and become a national leader in advocating for educational use of radio. Tyler hosted international forums on campus focused on radio policy and educational broadcast issues.
As Director of Radio Education, he was in charge of programming the radio station through partnerships with OSU faculty, setting up the first student broadcast training system and experimenting as part of his research on the effectiveness of teaching through radio.
Tyler started writing books on the use of educational radio in 1935 and was still at it in 1973 when he collaborated to write “Educational Communication in a Revolutionary Age.” His strong presence and that of his wife, Margaret Tyler, guided the programming efforts of WOSU radio and television for some 42 years.
(Dr. I. Keith Tyler shown with his wife, Dr. Margaret Tyler: Once Upon a Time in Ohio, which aired in the late 1920s, was a weekly dramatizations of stories about Ohio written by Margaret Tyler. Later, Margaret became the director of the entire “School of the Air” program.)
Dr. I. Keith Tyler spent 43 years on the faculty of Ohio State University. For twenty-seven of those years he was Director of the Ohio Institute for Education by Radio-Television.
Both I.Keith and Margaret Tyler passed away in April 1994.
Author or co-author:
• The listening habits of Oakland (California) pupils – 1936
• Needed research in classroom broadcasting – 1936
• Radio in the elementary school – 1936
• The use of radio in the classroom- 1936
• High-school students talk it over: a report of actual discussions by high-school students about war, motion pictures, the high school, radio, and parents as given on the Ohio School of the Air – 1937
• American school & university: Volume 10 1938 (includes “Developments In The School Radio-Sound Field” by I. Keith Tyler)
• Radio in informal education : a conference report – 1942
• Criteria for children's radio programs – 1942
• Education on the air – 1954
• Mass media and education - 1958
• Audiovisual instruction with/instructional resources: Volume 6 - 1961 (includes “Let's Play ‘Type The Talent’ by I. Keith Tyler)
• Teaching in the American secondary school: selected readings – 1964 (includes “Sharing teaching with television” by I. Keith Tyler)
• Television for world understanding – 1970
• Educational communication in a revolutionary age – 1973
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